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Mega-conglomerate
Mega-conglomerates, henceforth megacorps, are private enterprises which have grown successful enough to start acting like a state. The reasons for this evolution are many. At first, mega-conglomerates were purely devoted to carrying out business and commerce, much like a smaller company would, however interstellar trade lanes and worlds were not being properly safeguarded and maintained by the United Armada, and so during the Corporate Era, the height of megacorp power, private organizations began to take over these jobs instead. Soon enough however, megacorps were not simply protecting their own assets, they also found that combat could be used as a tool against ones' competitors - to hamper their resource gathering operations or their trade. The 60 or so years that megacorps were at the zenith of their power relative to the Human Domain itself is generally considered a low point. Certain megacorps were warring nearly constantly, while colonies were increasingly neglected and exploited by their "sponsors" with some notable exceptions. A series of events conspired to reduce the influence of megacorps however, and by the end of the era they had waned in power significantly enough to be simply commercial enterprises once again. Megacorps are a uniquely human occurrence. List of megacorps An anachronous list of megacorps and their subsidiaries, along with what trade guild(s) they were/are aligned with. The three major trade guilds Earth Partnership Trade Guild: *Acteon Shipbuilding Currents: Headquarters in Mombasa, Zanzibar Cartel.. Primarily produces starships of all types, as well as automated technologies and robotics like drones and mining rovers. Acteon is also the first megacorp, and the oldest still active. *Eximius Concerted Trade Ventures: Often known as ECTV. Headquarters in New Atlas, Atargatis, Maradona Stars. A jack-of-all-trades corporation, thanks to its large number of subsidiaries. Operates on the frontier, experienced in trade with the Maghua and Despertun. Also known for its elite covert operations group - Penumbra. *Armaments, Technology, and Optimized Shielding: Often known as ATOS. Headquarters on Bharani, Sol's Umbra. Specializes in advanced weapons technologies, particularly for warships, as well as energy shielding for vehicles, cities, and starships. *Helium-3 Mining and Manufacturing Corporation: Headquarters in Beydaan, Durre Manthor, Sol's Umbra. Adept in all things related to the mining, refining, and storage of Helium-3, a critical resource for fusion reactors. *Brine Associates: Headquarters in Meadow, Mars, Sol's Umbra. Evolving from archaeological efforts on Mars, Brine covets all alien technology (or other artifacts) for research and sale, and if possible, reverse-engineering. *Jonson Space Dynamics Division: Headquarters in Port Canaveral, United States. Markets expertise and innovation in starbase and orbital station designs, used for various purposes such as Helium-3 exploitation and starship manufacture. Subsidiaries include: Silmond Industries - subsidy of ECTV. General Nanofactory manufacturing, tooling, and management. Estrecho Shipbuilding - subsidy of ECTV. Construction of aquatic ships for domestic use and as exports. Model Homes Inc - subsidy of ECTV. Fabrication of Prefab Shelters and other facilities for colonizing new worlds. Izari Power - subsidy of ECTV. Energy resources and related technologies - specializes in hydroelectricity, tidal harnesses, and thermocline transducers. The Clique - subsidy of ECTV. Designs and builds starships and manages foundries. Automotive Triumvirate - subsidy of ECTV. Designs and builds vehicles, generally for civilian use. Market Coalition Trade Guild *Ronstal: Headquarters in Dortmund, Germany. A manufacturing juggernaught, with recent estimates placing almost 15,000 nanofactories in total under Ronstal management throughout the Domain, 2500 of which are all on Earth. Ronstal produces nearly everything, from household and consumer goods to weapons and niche products like supercaps, usually of middling to very good quality, in staggering numbers. Constantly searching for raw resources to fuel its industrial might - has developed the most efficient strip-mining techniques, asteroid mining, borehole pressure mines, living refineries, and elemental nanites. Because of Ronstal's substantial grip in the military-industrial complex, it sees a lot of competition with ATOS and Selena Strong Arms. *Lukkastor: Headquarters on Titan (Saturn's largest moon). A giant of the entertainment industry (film, games, art in general) and tourism. One of the most benevolent megacorps, as well as one of the most active in interstellar exploration (always looking out for beautiful places to settle and draw visitors to, among other things) makes extensive use of subsidiaries to maintain an effective economy to compete with other megacorps. *Ace Energy: Headquarters on Meghanon. Ace aims to monetize the all-important resource that is energy. In doing so, it has developed excellent colliders, supercapacitors, and indeed innovative fusion and antimatter reactors of all sizes and types, for use as power plants, engines, generators, and other applications. *Farwick Pharma: Headquarters on New Amazonia. Large producer of medicines and pharmaceuticals, works to meet the growing demand for these products on the frontier, establishing clinics, pharmacies, and other types of distribution centers. *Baikonur Stellar Initiative: Often known as the BSI. Headquartered in Baikonur (also known as Novi Zvezdograd), Kazakhstan. Construction of starships and starbases is its primary pursuit, much like Acteon's. Unlike other megacorps, Baikonur was founded as part of a national effort, known as the Baikonur Renaissance rather than an exclusively private effort. *Xiaozhu Interstellar: Headquarters in Shanghai, China. Specializes in robotics and computers of all types, from Overlord command systems to strides in optical and quantum computing. Subsidiaries include: Akator Mining Subsidiary - subsidy of Lukkastor. Focused on asteroid mining, and mining the rings of gas giants. Farwick Chemicals Ltd. - subsidy of Farwick Pharma. Works the chemical processing and refining that goes into producing pharmaceuticals. Profit Communion Trade Guild *Tritach: Headquarters on Formos. For a time, became the most powerful megacorp in the Domain, the most politically influential and economically important due to its monopoly of the Dark Matter fuel supply. The rise of Tritach singlehandedly threw Durre Manthor off as the primary producer and exporter of dark matter and caused the rapid decline of that economy, while its political influence eventually lead Tritach's CEO to have a seat on the Five Sectors and have a role in dictating Domain-wide policy. Tritach's rise and fall are commonly used as the beginning and the end of the Corporate Era. *Innovaganix: Headquarters on Hersuste. Innovaganix is centered around the biotechnology industry, and through trade with the Maghua has developed the ability to use spider silk in production of various materials that require extreme tensile strength (such as body armour), living refineries, substances to augment human strength and endurance, and artificially-engineered viruses (breaching the Congress of Madapar resolutions). Innovaganix also conducted experiments in human regeneration, and attempted to induce telepathic abilities in humans. *Selena Strong Arms: Headquartered on Mirascon. Selena is entirely devoted to the production of weapons and supplying them to highest bidder... or all bidders. Compared to the professionalism of ATOS and the noncommittal nature of Ronstal, Selena Strong Arms is known to take a proactive approach to increasing its profits, always making sure there are customers for its weapons, one way or another. From inciting revolutions and civil wars on individual colonies, to lobbying for interstellar war, and everything in between. Secondary trade guilds Aside from the three largest and most powerful trade guilds, there are numerous other economic and military alliances between megacorps. Payne Industrial and Pitnick Mining Corporation have an unnamed alliance which behaves like a trade guild - there have even been talks a of a merger between the two companies due to the degree of cooperation between them. Both megacorps used to be reluctant partners of the Profit Communion until the breakout of the Innovaganix Containment War. Taken together, the two corporations fill many of the same markets as Ronstal. Notable non-megacorps Megacorps are hardly the only businesses operating in space. Some smaller companies may manage to out-compete megacorps on a small-scale, such as individual planets or star systems, becoming fairly wealthy and influential in their own right, but may not be able to compete on the interstellar stage. Some notable economic powers which are not megacorps include: *Luther Systems: A family-owned shipbuilding firm that operates almost exclusively in Earth's orbit - with some outposts elsewhere. On Earth it is the chief competitor to Acteon, alongside Baikonur, and is well-known for the quality of the starships it produces, though it cannot match the mass-production of its rivals. Perhaps the most famous Luther-built starships would be the LS Lantern used by the Order of Asklepios, and one of the first non-military starships to use a 3000C warp drive in place of 1800C drives, which were at the time the industry standard. There is also the LS Lightsbane, which was Melina Luther's flagship and lead the charge in numerous fleet engagements during the foundation of The Free Systems. *Rho Aquilae Skunkworks: A small start-up in the Giannist Hierarchy, which drew investment from the Archon's government in order to help the fledgling company meet demands for the growing Giannist army. The Skunkworks, as it came to be known, developed infantry fighting vehicles and small arms for the colony's military, and participated in joint ventures with other regional powers to develop more advanced prototypes for guns and vehicles. *UA Manufacturing: In the aftermath of the Kuiper War and the logistical issues which played the Joint Task Force, the Domain realized it would need to create the infrastructure to develop, manufacture, and convey war materiel on an interstellar scale independent of any megacorp. As such, the Domain created a sub-sector of the United Armada, a manufacturing branch now simply called United Armada Manufacturing. Despite the name, the organization maintains most of the industrial facilities under the Domain's direct control, producing weapons, starships, medical supplies, equipment, and whatever else soldiers and explorers may come to need. UA Manufacturing also funds a lot of research projects to improve outdated equipment, and offers rewards to private individuals during its commissions. The UA is also an exception to the rule - it can compete on most levels with most megacorps on a large-scale, but as it is not a privately-owned enterprise with numerous subsidiaries, it is not a megacorp. *International Transplants: Though sharing many similarities with a mega-conglomerate, International Transplants or just InTran, is the body responsible for issuing charters of astral territory for usage by other megacorps. *Mariscal: Works in close cooperation with the Humain Domain, based in Argentina (with secondary headquarters in Ethiopia, India, Egypt, the United States, and China), and is primarily tasked with ensuring a steady food supply to those colonies which are not yet self-sufficient and not under megacorp payroll. History of megacorps Expansion Era: Year 8 - Year 145 It took time for the interstellar economy to mature enough for megacorps to form. For the first half of the Expansion era, there were too few people living in space, not enough starships to carry enough goods far enough, and regions were not sufficiently mapped to make long-range commerce truly viable. Furthermore, it was too risky to address these problems for private initiatives to take the necessary measures, so during this time all colonization, trade, and exploration was spearheaded by "government" initiatives (the Exploration Fleet, Merchant Astra, and so on). Just as the king of Spain had to order Magellan to undertake his circumnavigation of the world before merchants would do it themselves. By the third quarter of the Expansion Era (Years 80-115) things were beginning to change, though. Colonies were increasingly self-sufficient and had created diverse, high-tech economies, while starship construction was cheaper and more refined than before. As economies developed, exploration was faster, easier, and less risky. Opportunities to make a good living among the stars were many, and lucrative businesses appeared. The Uhara warlords that offered resistance to human expansion and consolidation were gradually stamped out after decades of conflict. The first of these businesses to become a true megacorp was Acteon Shipbuilding Currents, which first came together in Year 84. Over the next 40 years, most of today's most influential megacorps were founded, however their present forms vary somewhat. Corporate Era: Year 145 - Year 209 By Year 140, there were dozens of mega-conglomerates (including all of those mentioned above), and each had managed to carve out a sphere of influence, controlling and protecting trade routes, and employing and providing for the colonies within it. The most notable of these however, and the one that historians say would give rise to a new era of history, was Tritach. In Year 146, Tritach grew so powerful due to its near total monopoly on the production and distribution of Dark Matter that the Five Sectors felt it prudent to grant its CEO membership. It became necessary to be able to consult Tritach about the pricing and availability of starship fuel in order for the Five Sectors to do their job effectively. So began the Corporate Era (sometimes also called the Consulate Era, due to the Great Seal being issued to the Consul Prima during most of this time). This was the height of the Megaconglomerates' influence and power in the Human Domain. Admiralty Era Corporate warfare Megacorps did not resort to warfare, when facing competition, immediately. This was a gradual process that took decades to become practical and advisable. At first competition was purely economic - the battlefield was in stock markets and courtrooms, fought with money and words rather than fusion warheads. As the space inhabited by humans grew, and interstellar commerce with it, the distances involved meant that stocks could no longer be tracked in real time, and there was no legal precedent in place by any institution to allow megacorps to settle disputes legally. In short, the complex nature of interstellar civilization changed everything. Despite this, however, most megacorps were content to keep things non-violent, resorting to bilateral agreements and complex arrangements based simply on the honor system and mutual interest. Spheres of influence were agreed upon and long-winded negotiations would take place whenever two megacorps found themselves wanting to take advantage of the same uncontested or unexplored space. In order to facilitate these efforts, the Domain began to create "charters" for megacorps - essentially granting permission to settle an area of space. If the chartered space was acted upon by a competing megacorp against the terms set by the charter, then the Domain could mediate the resulting conflict. For a while, this worked. These were the beginnings of interstellar corporate law, to be discussed later. The growth of interstellar commerce attracted not only investors and business, it also brought new risks, and new variables. In the final quarter of the Expansion Era Earth was no longer capable of projecting power to defend every single planet and every single merchantman. Previously, megacorps had entrusted much of the matters of colonial security to the Domain. When dealing with diseases, dangerous cosmic or planetary events, raids by marauders, nomads, or aliens, hostile indigenous life, and other problems, megacorps expected the Domain to cover their losses. At a certain point, this was no longer possible, and megacorps were forced to secure their own assets in a dangerous galaxy. Space exploration and colonization was a risky business, and now that they had come as far as they had, early megacorps had no choice but to secure what they had against financial risk. It was either that, or dissolve and be overtaken by a rival. As a result. Every megacorp invested in growing food to feed their workers on planets. Shipments of food could no longer be considered reliable. Water also had to be provided, and electric power. Habitation complexes and urban planning divisions had to be created as well as corporate survey groups to fill the role the Exploration Fleet once did. Trading ships would be attacked by marauders, explorers would run into hostile aliens or aggressive nomads, and so megacorps were inclined to design and construct warships. To secure planets against hostile life or invasion, militias have to be founded and infrastructure put in place to support them as an effective fighting force. In short, megacorps took measures to secure their investments. With all the weapons being built, and combat experience being earned through various small conflicts (such as the subjugation of Baggatue), and the ever-escalating traffic and profit to be made off interstellar trade, combined with the lackluster methods in place to prevent conflict, slowly but surely, corporate leaders realized that these weapons and experience could be used for more than merely protecting ones' own assets - it could be used to weaken and destroy those of your competitors. Some corporations took to violence frequently - others rarely. Nonetheless, the potential threat posed by competing megacorps triggered an arms race and stimulated the manufacture and development of even more weapons. Corporate economics Corporate law Category:Megacorps